Maikel Garcia, KC Royals fans following bizarre Robinson Cano path with Jazz Chisholm

In my extremely biased viewpoint, the corniest thing an opposing fanbase can do is channel a gamma ray of hatred directly at the Yankees just for the sake of hating the Yankees. If a Yankees player has actively wronged you? Go for it. Fair's fair. Let him have it. If a Yankees player can't remember why you have beef, but you still remind him of it at every turn? Then you just might be from the midwest and in your mid-40s.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. is a lightning rod who speaks his mind. Sometimes, it's endearing to everyone involved. Sometimes, if you're on the wrong side of a playoff rivalry, it feels foolish and opens the door to an all-time reversal (and some good old-fashioned Yankees embarrassment). When Chisholm Jr. said the Royals got "lucky" in last October's ALDS Game 2 win, it certainly represented a golden opportunity for KC to make some noise at home and send Chisholm home for the winter ashamed.

Except ... they did not do that. Giancarlo Stanton swiped Game 3 with a massive home run. Gerrit Cole rode the Kauffman Stadium wind currents to a Game 4 victory. Chisholm never really spoke again. The issue, as far as anyone should've been concerned, was done and dusted. Chisholm had given the Royals an opportunity and, as their fans spat blood, the team refused to take it.

In fact, it wasn't Chisholm who kept inserting himself into the conversation for the remainder of the series, but rather Maikel Garcia of the Royals. Garcia was the one who posted, "Don't celebrate too early!" after Game 2. He was also the one who was, in fact, celebrating too early, failing to win another game in the series.

Garcia was also the one who took exception to Anthony Volpe's diving tag late in Game 4, when Volpe lunged at him with both glove and forearm in a moment of disarray. You'll definitely come down on a different side of this debate depending on your geolocation but, objectively, Garcia tried to make it a larger deal than it was in a last-ditch attempt to fire up his teammates. It didn't work.

On Tuesday night, Chisholm got screamed at by a 40,000-strong crowd of Kansas Citians who can't let him go, then got tagged in the head by Garcia and forced from the game with neck spasms. The tag was, like Volpe's, relatively boilerplate, but had consequences for the man who's tired of catching the strays that Garcia has clearly earned. One of these two men has been stuck in the center of everything, even after winning the series where he egged the fans on, leaving the ALDS having been proven 100% correct, re: who got lucky. One of them continues to insert himself in the action and hasn't gotten an ounce of blowback.

If Chisholm's going to be the villain to these people, no matter what he does, then he might as well call out the person on the other side who would love to have a similar level of attention.

Yankees' Jazz Chisholm points finger at Royals' Maikel Garcia after injury exit

Kansas City and New York had an explosive baseball rivalry in the 1970s and 1980s. It was undeniable. It's the reason why George Brett was papered over last year's ALDS broadcast for about 12 minutes longer than he should've been.

Since then, though, the rivalry has been inarguably one-sided, marked by Kansas City taking umbrage at small affronts and blowing them out of proportion. Never forget that, in an ill-conceived stunt, MLB tried to name Robinson Cano "captain" of the 2012 Home Run Derby, thus assigning their unpopular decision to leave local Royals fan favorite Billy Butler — who didn't homer all that much, and had no business being involved — out of the field. The chances of that being Cano's decision, rather than a team of marketers who would rather see dingers than non-dingers, is extremely low.

Still, Royals fans booed Cano mercilessly all weekend; the Yankees' second baseman was unable to handle it, going from Derby Champion to an embarrassing shutout from one year to the next, popping out feebly as the chorus of boos rained down. When Kansas City picks a Yankees enemy, they pick one forever, undeterred by how things actually played out in reality.

The Yankees won last year's postseason matchup. They won 10-2 Tuesday night. When they take the field on Wednesday, Chisholm will be roundhouse kicked by vitriol once again. But, as long as he and his teammates don't end up performing like Cano, he and the Yankees will be able to leave with their heads held higher than a Maikel Garcia tag.